COLUMBUS, Ohio (March 28, 2013) — GROOVE U students had the experience of alifetime at the 27th annual South by Southwest (SXSW) Music and Media Conference andFestival earlier this month. SXSW, the world's leading music industry event, aims toeducate and inspire by offering numerous education sessions and countless networkingopportunities. GROOVE U founder and director, Dwight Heckelman, along with musicproduction instructor, Eric Van Wagner, led students on their first SXSW experience,which they won’t soon forget.

Students attended educational sessions during the day that featured the likes of keynotespeaker Dave Grohl and the Kickstarter success story of Amanda Palmer. Each of the fivenights spent in Austin, Texas, included showcases packed with big names like Prince,Green Day, Depeche Mode, LL Cool J, and Tenacious D... just to name a few of the morethan 2,000 acts performing. The conference afforded students the opportunity to meet,and interact with industry professionals on an epic scale.

“The music industry is a relationship-driven business, and we work hard to give ourstudents as many opportunities as possible to make connections on both a local andglobal level,” said Heckelman. “Attending SXSW is an integral part of our curriculumbecause it helps our students begin to establish the all-important relationships with keyindustry professionals which leads to internship and employment possibilities.”

With more than 19,000 industry movers and shakers in attendance, making connectionsand building relationships was the main take-away for many of GROOVE U’s first-yearstudents. For them, meeting people like the owners of MySpace, the manager of Mumfordand Sons, the stage manager for Justin Timberlake and music publisher for FUN, was notonly cool, but could help them land amazing summer internships.

“I learned the art of networking — finding out what someone does, and explaining what Ido in a matter of minutes” said student Zachry Earhart. Other students agreed. “The bestpart of SXSW was meeting and getting advice from industry pros,” said Aaron Dill. “Itreally taught me how important making connections is,” added another student.

Following up with their newfound contacts is the next step for the students, who arefocused on finding summer internships — a requirement of the GROOVE U program. Theyare also producing a mini-documentary of their SXSW experience for their music | thevideo course, which will be released in April.

About GROOVE U

GROOVE U is a revolutionary two-year music business career program located inColumbus, Ohio. Led by 20-year music industry veteran Dwight Heckelman, GROOVE Ufocuses on a career-centered approach to learning developed by active industryprofessionals. The guiding philosophy of the program is that the music industry iscreatively engaged, apprenticeship-based and relationship-driven. The full-time programoffers small, personalized classes with both a broad, solid foundation and specializedareas of study in: live music, production, business, video and interactive. The schoolofficially opened its brand new 30,000-square foot campus in September 2012, and iscurrently enrolling for Fall 2013.